American Airlines

[Aviador]

American Airlines forced to repack exit slides

American Airlines crews had to inspect and test the exit slides on about 272 aircraft last week after a mechanic discovered a "potential problem" with the way the work had been done, the carrier said Monday.

The slides were found to be working on all of American's McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets, but they had been packed and stowed on the planes using the wrong tool, said a spokesman for the airline.

"There were about 11 rafts that had potential issues, but none failed to inflate," said the spokesman, Tim Wagner.

The situation came to light when a mechanic notified American and the Federal Aviation Administration under a voluntary program of reporting potential safety issues without fear of retaliation from the airline.

Wagner said American notified the FAA that it would inspect and repack all the slides properly, and did the work from Wednesday night through Friday without affecting flight schedules.

The rear slides of the MD-80s must be unfolded, tested and repacked every 18 to 36 months, but the airline's crews were doing the work without using a tool designed by the manufacturer to realign parts of the slide, Wagner said.

The FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Source

 

[Aviador]

American Airlines accept PayPal

American Airlines has become the first US airline to allow international customers to pay their fare using Paypal. Customers buying online at www.aa.com were allowed to start using the payment system on May 28.

American joins Monarch and Jet2 as the only airlines currently accepting PayPal for customers booking flights in the UK.

Source

 

[News Guru]

American Airlines Finds Cracks in Pylons Holding Engines

Cracks in large pylons that hold engines onto the wings of two of its 767-300 aircrafts have been found by American Airlines, according to the airline and the planes' manufacturer.

Worried that the difficulty might as well be there on the other airline fleets, Boeing says it intends to recommend airlines to keep a check on the parts more often than the existing recommendation of every 1,500 takeoff and landing cycles.

This is an issue related to safety. It is all about the support that attaches an engine to the wing, said Boeing representative, Peter Conte.

American Airlines spokesperson, Tim Wagner said the crisis was first located on one of its 767-300s about two weeks back while maintenance checks targeting other parts were carried out on the aircraft.

The airline then saw cracking on another 767-300 after checking a total of 56 aircrafts 767-300 and 767-200s, which is a procedure American Airlines finished on Monday night.

Wagner said that inspecting, issues like these was best found at the best time when they were supposed to be found, which is early on. The airline has sent the first smashed pylon to a metallurgy lab to try to settle on that why it cracked.

Source

 

[Aviador]

US regulators have approved the trans-Atlantic alliance among American Airlines, British Airways and Spanish national carrier Iberia

 

[News Guru]

American Airlines to start Tucson-LAX nonstop flights

American Airlines will introduce nonstop flights between Tucson and Los Angeles International Airport with three daily round-trips starting April 5.

Tucson is one of 10 cities that will get new American flights from LAX, where the airline is spending $20 million on upgrades to its Terminal 4 facilities. The new destinations include international flights to Shanghai, the only nonstop flights between the two cities.

American’s Tucson-to-LAX flights will be on American Eagle regional jet flights with both first class and coach seating. Currently, Southwest and United airlines both fly the route with five daily flights each.

Source

 

[News Guru]

American Airlines will recall another 200 flight attendants this year, the Fort Worth-based carrier said Friday.

This is in addition to the 368 flight attendants that are part of a recall announced last week. The new deal puts 100 furloughed flight attendants back to work by July 15 and another 100 by Oct. 15.

Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said the group "is very happy to be able to get some of its members back to work." The union represents about 18,000 American employees.

American also agreed to let the 228 flight attendants that are still on the carrier's furlough list to remain there with unlimited recall rights. The union says that many of these workers would have fallen off the furlough list Nov. 1.

At its peak in July 2003, the union's furlough list had 6,014 flight attendants on it.

Those still on the list, as well as the 568 that are being recalled, are flight attendants who worked for TWA and have not worked for American since 2002 or 2003, Glading said. Many of them did not train on American aircraft before they were laid off, she added.

In return for maintaining the recall list, American can hire up to 30 new flight attendants who speak Mandarin. These new flight attendants will be based in Los Angeles and staff routes to China, including American's new route from Los Angeles to Shanghai, which is expected to launch in April.

"We welcome our new and returning flight attendants to service and value their integral role in providing an outstanding onboard experience for our customers," American spokeswoman Missy Latham said.

Airlines, including American, have been adding flight capacity over the past year, and as a result they have started recalling or hiring workers. Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines said it had 200 flight attendant positions open that it needs to hire for.

Glading said she believes that American, which said it plans to grow capacity by 4 percent this year, will eventually need to hire new flight attendants.

"I feel very confident that we will be getting to new hires, hopefully in the next year, and have everybody off recall," Glading said.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/02/18 ... z1EOBKWyaU

 

[tleeds]

American Airlines Orders 460 Boeing and Airbus Aircraft.

American Airlines has announced multi-billion dollar orders for 460 new Boeing and Airbus planes.

The world's fourth-largest airline by number of passengers, American is buying 200 Boeing 737s and 260 Airbus A320 aircraft.

American described the twin deals as "the largest aircraft order in history".

Its parent company AMR Corporation added that the new single-aisle planes would "transform" American's fleet.

The new aircraft will be delivered between 2013 and 2022.

For More Information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14222042

 

[pilot_737]

Very surprised to see them go for the Airbus! I thought American would stay exclusive to Boeing for as long as they exist!

It just goes to show that Airbus really are a force now, there new NEO aircraft surely was the deal breaker.

 

[Aviador]

Antigua & Barbuda's tourism industry is set to receive a boost with the addition of American Airlines' new direct air service from New York's John F Kennedy International Airport, beginning on November 17. The direct flight will operate on a weekly four-day schedule – Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – in addition to the existing daily flight from Miami and the daily American Eagle flight from San Juan.

Read more: http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/touri ... z1W83tcFY2

 

[Aviador]

It's unthinkable, America without American Airlines. Could it really ever happen? It would leave a huge gap in the market, recession or no recession.

 

[Jordan-34092]

It's unthinkable, America without American Airlines. Could it really ever happen? It would leave a huge gap in the market, recession or no recession.

Ok there two thing British Airways wouldn't be British airways.

1. Wouldn't be British Airways without the 747

2. Wouldn't be British Airways without the American Airline partnership.


Also it would be a shock to see it happen, even though America has no national flag carrier, American Airlines has always been regarded as the national flag carrier of America.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Several large US airlines have operated under Chapter 11 Protection (broadly similar to Administration in the UK) in the recent past and not ceased to exist.

On the other hand, famous old names such as Pan Am, Trans World and Northwest no longer exist.

Let's hope that American is not another.

 

[Jordan-34092]

Slightly offtopic but i read somewhere that Pan-Am has been re launched in the states as a small time airline, now i know it won't grow to be the great pan-am as it was but if the source is true that airline can be taken off that list in a way.

 

[Jordan-34092]

American Airlines files for bankruptcy protection

American Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced that its president, Thomas Horton, has succeeded Gerard Arpey as chief executive.

The carrier today filed voluntary petitions for reorganisation with the Southern District of New York bankruptcy court, citing the move as being "in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders".

Horton said: "We have met our challenges head on, taking all possible action to secure our long-term position. In recent years, even as the airline industry faced unprecedented challenges, American strengthened our domestic and global network; fortified our alliances with the best partners around the world; launched a transformational fleet deal that will give American the youngest and most efficient fleet in the industry; and invested in our product, service and technology to build a world class customer experience.

"But as we have made clear with increasing urgency in recent weeks, we must address our cost structure, including labour costs, to enable us to capitalise on these foundational strengths and secure our future. Our very substantial cost disadvantage compared to our larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, has become increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges."

Horton added that the carrier is committed to working "as quickly and efficiently as possible" to restructure the airline and emerge from bankruptcy protection.

American intends to carry out its operations as normal during its restructuring process, and will "maintain a strong presence in domestic and international markets, including our cornerstones in Dallas Fort Worth, Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles", said Horton.

American will enter negotiations with its unions aimed at improving its cost structure.

The airline has $4.1 billion in unrestricted cash reserves and short-term investments, which it said will be "more than sufficient to assure that its vendors, suppliers and other business partners will be paid timely and in full for goods and services provided during the Chapter 11 process".

Source

 

[Aviador]

The various American airlines seem to spend nearly all their time in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What is the UK equivalent if there is one that is?

 

[Jordan-34092]

i think it administration but the company has not gone bust.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The various American airlines seem to spend nearly all their time in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What is the UK equivalent if there is one that is?

As Concorde Lover points out, Chapter 11 protection in the USA is broadly similar to Adminstration in the UK.

And Aviador rightly points out that Chapter 11 protection has become almost a fact of life for a number of major US airlines at one time or another enabling breathing space for reorganisation and, usually, a continuing of the airline after Chapter 11.

 

[News Guru]

American Airlines and US Airways merger cleared by judge

A US federal bankruptcy judge has ruled in favour of a proposed merger between US Airways and American Airlines which would form the world's biggest airline.

It was the last hurdle the two firms needed to clear for the merger to proceed.

American Airlines said it now expects the deal to be completed by 9 December.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25126564

 

[Aviador]

American Airlines hit by decline in international markets

Not the greatest situation for the airline. The saving grace for the airline is probably the low oil price at the moment otherwise we could see some route closures ahead.

 

[Aviador]

American Airlines pilot caught over the limit

Flying before boarding: the problem of pilot inebriation - See more at: http://mro-network.com/opinion/2016/04/flying-boarding-problem-pilot-inebriation/9531#sthash.RyzFTK9s.dpuf